Extra £5m put forward to help tackle potholes in Leicestershire

Plans to inject an extra £5m into maintaining Leicestershire’s roads have been unveiled.

The county council wants to use the money to prevent more potholes and ramp up its long-lasting resurfacing programme.

Following the harsh winter, the latest figures show around 1,760 patching jobs are outstanding - and the figure grows by around 20 a week.

The extra £5m has come from recent council investments including rents from properties purchased over the last year.

It’s on top of a further £8m of funding already directed towards highways maintenance in recent years.

The total road maintenance budget for 2018/19 is now £24m.

Cllr Blake Pain, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Our roads are still some of the best around” but warned “our spend on maintenance is set to decrease by £7m by 2020 following national funding reductions”.

He said: “The harsh winter has taken its toll – in January, we received three times as many calls about potholes compared to January 2017. And we recognise the cost to business and inconvenience to people who use our roads.

“This extra money means we can prevent more potholes occurring. And importantly, it enables us to resurface and seal many more miles of road.

“Not only does this prolong their life, it improves journeys for residents and reduces the need for roadworks.”

Cllr Byron Rhodes, cabinet member for resources, said: “This extra investment in front line services clearly highlights the benefits of the county council’s asset investment programme.”

The council’s cabinet will discuss the plan at a meeting on Tuesday, 22 May.

You can watch the meeting online at: www.leicestershire.gov.uk/webcast